Ourochiboros
by MonkeyKing2016
Summary: In 2065, Kiyomori plans to unleash a pathogen that transforms ordinary humans into serpent men, and possibly something worse. Can our beloved heroes from the Sanguo and Sengoku eras, "resurrected" through Project Ancestor, stop this menace?
1. Prologue

PROLOGUE

The rebreather hissed as Kiyomori exhaled a long-overdue breath. Across the room from this ancient, withered husk of a man, draped in nanotech and tubes, a window afforded a clear view of a grisly scene: Control Group A was nearly finished annihilating Control Group B. What appeared to be serpent men (they were humans mere minutes ago) stood impatient, defiant, unchallenged as the last of the other group, comprised of humans, fell into bloody heaps. The serpent men looked around, eyes (and tongues) darting, clawed fingers dripping blood and gore.

Kiyomori drummed his fingers on the armrest of his hovering throne, its boosters noiselessly and gently carrying him closer to the window. "So far, so good. This will do nicely if it works as planned, though I would have preferred an airborne version to this blood borne one. Perhaps it is time for a field test." He turned the throne and gazed out of a nearby port hole, staring into the vastness of space, broken by the massive bulk of Earth below. "Dong Xiao, launch the probe!"

"Yes, my lord!" Xiao proceeded to press a few buttons at her control station. She had long black hair well past her shoulders and an attractive face, save for an unsightly reddish mole above her right eyebrow. Her expression seemed perpetually devious, even (especially) when she was relaxed. Her commands input, a small light above her console briefly glowed green. From elsewhere inside the structure, a probe launched from space station Taira no Roku, which itself was just outside Earth's orbit. "It is done, my lord. Any further instructions?"

"Yes, dispose of these...test subjects. All of them." Kiyomori then hovered his throne over to his command console and paged the news feed. The top headlines of the day's news (May 15, 2065) continued to concern the Zenith dispute. The US, in its arrogance, had dared to claim the moon as its 51st state, naming it Zenith. That had been about a month ago, and the ensuing global maelstrom hadn't quite lost its momentum. The US had lost many allies over the years, but was still a military superpower, despite being on the verge of economic collapse. Kiyomori's cybernetically-enhanced eyes flicked over more news feeds, then stopped. One article mentioned a world summit talk to be held on Friday, May 22, one week from today. Kiyomori temporarily suspended the rebreather to let out a laugh, which in turn caused a brief coughing fit. "Xiao, suit up and pack your supplies. Bring battle gear too."

"Yes, my lord. Where am I headed?"

"Kongming Labs."

Dong Xiao grinned. "Ah, Project Ancestor?"

Kiyomori turned his throne to face her, again suspending the rebreather to show his grin as well. "Yes, you have a nimble mind. We could use your father." With that, Xiao bowed and hurried off to her rooms, passing by the long window of the test chamber, which now showed an even grislier scene of flattened chunks (human and serpent alike) in pools of blood, still in the process of draining. Kiyomori stroked his beard as the rebreather realigned. "Zhuo should compliment my plans nicely." Smiling, he closed his eyes and gripped his prayer bead necklace. "Third time's a charm, lord Orochi, though not quite how you would have expected."


	2. Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

Xu Chu thundered down the dirt pass, bandit corpses in his wake, soon-to-be-corpses ahead. With a mighty shout he pumped his legs and charged into the next group, his powerful club-hand swatting bandits left and right into the air, shattering skulls and skeletal structures. He was a giant of a man, very rotund, and where his right hand used to be was now grafted an enormous studded metal sphere, some say it weighed ten horses. Strength was not an issue for Chu, who, back when he had the use of both hands, could easily uproot many a tree to use as a club. On his left hand was a form-fitting glove that could, on command, become as hard as steel (but likewise lock his hand into whatever position it was in). Sometimes this feature malfunctioned at inopportune times (and for indefinite lengths of time), and he was stuck not being able to handle simple tasks like turning a door knob. That's where his personal assistant Shinji came in.

Shinji was a synthetic construct called a bakemono (sometimes also called obake). Bakemono were synthetic humanoid assistants, and it was popular for them to be modeled to look like anthropomorphic animals. Shinji in particular looked like a wolf man, with gray and white fur fully covering his humanoid body. Bakemono were programmed to understand and perform many tasks, they were like personal butlers; however they could not be commanded to kill. Even if commanded to defend oneself, they did so with nonlethal, rudimentary means. By default they were not designed for combat or protection, though there was speculation of black market hacks to bypass these limitations.

Up ahead from Chu's current position, two hills rose sharply on either side of the pass. "Perfect spot for an ambush," Chu said to himself. He looked back, shielding his eyes from the afternoon sun, and saw in front of a receding wave of dust Shinji approaching on the motorcycle, with Chu's large sidecar attached to the right. He waited a moment longer, relaxing a bit, glancing around at the bodies (and spilled brains) of the bandits. None moved. When Shinji pulled up, Chu reached into the sidecar and pulled out his goggled basket hat. He put it on and turned on the thermal imaging and looked ahead at the hills. He could see humanoid heat signatures on both sides. So it was indeed an ambush. He hadn't encountered their leader yet. He unfastened the basket hat and was about to toss it back into the sidecar, but he held onto it, pondering.

After a moment's thought, Xu Chu refastened the goggled basket hat and settled into the massive sidecar. "Shinji, I want you to drive ahead. No matter what happens, keep driving." Shinji nodded acknowledgement and began driving up the dirt path, the two hills a short distance ahead. Xu Chu flicked on the thermal imaging and assumed a relaxed state—he appeared to be taking a nap.

Xu Chu kept his eyes open imperceptibly, and as they approached the ambush site, he could see the humanoid heat signatures milling about, preparing to strike. When they were finally between the two hills, Chu was ready for the onslaught: one bandit, presumably the leader, shouted, "There he is! Get him! The Blue Sky is dead!" and leapt from his cover. The other bandits did likewise and shouted "The Yellow Sky will reign!" and other battle cries. Xu Chu instantly arose from his false slumber, catching the leader in his arms (close to his chest) and swung him about to fend off the other bandits, leaving them literally in the dust as the motorcycle sped along.

The leader began pummeling Chu as hard as he could with his fists, then he drew a dagger from his hip. Seeing this, Chu dropped the leader to the sidecar's floor. The bandit then quickly got up and took a few swipes at Chu, who barely dodged the first couple swings, then blocked a few more with his club-hand. He studied the bandit leader's posture and movements, especially his shoulders, and correctly anticipated the man's next swing. Chu caught the man's right arm in his left (and only) hand and pushed it up near the side of the man's head. It was then that the glove malfunctioned, locking Chu's left hand in a firm grip on the bandit's right forearm. Seeing the confusion on Chu's face, the man's eyes went wide, and his mouth opened with a silent scream as he realized something was not right.

"Let me go! LET ME GO!" screamed the bandit leader, desperation frothing his beard. The dagger fell from his numb right hand, but he wasn't about to give up yet. He lifted his left leg and pulled a knife from inside his boot. His eyes bloodshot, he swung wildly at Xu Chu, who could only try desperately to block with his bulky, cumbersome club-hand. In such close quarters, Chu knew he couldn't keep this up forever; perhaps it was his turn to plead.

Facing the same way the motorcycle was headed, Chu could see over the bandit's shoulder. A section of metal scaffolding was coming up ahead. Chu knew what he had to do, and it wouldn't be pretty. He blocked a few more swings, and then shouted to Shinji, "Drive close to those metal poles!" Shinji suddenly swerved over, Chu and the bandit nearly losing their balance. Chu recovered quickly and timed his move just right, but just as he spun and heaved the bandit's body away from him toward the scaffolding, the sidecar bumped over a large rock, adding even more momentum to the bandit's flight. With a grotesque pop and rip, Chu's metal gloved hand gripped only the bandit leader's bloody forearm; the rest of the bandit bounced and rolled (and bled) down the dirt path behind him.

Xu Chu sighed and plopped down into his seat, shaking his head (and the sidecar). He reached his gloved hand over to Shinji, "Hey Shinji, take this arm out of my hand and throw it away behind you." Shinji nodded and did as he was commanded, not the least bit distracted from driving. "And stop at the next town," Xu Chu told him, and he leaned back and settled for a real nap, pulling the basket hat fully over his face.


End file.
